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Increasing Hpv Vaccination Adherence In Floyd County, Ky: Give Teens Vaccines, Taylor M. Stumbo

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Cervical cancer remains a pressing public health issue, particularly in underserved and rural areas where access to preventive care is limited. This capstone addresses the urgent need to increase human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination adherence in Floyd County, Kentucky—part of the central Appalachian region that experiences disproportionately high cervical cancer incidence and mortality. Despite the proven effectiveness of HPV vaccines in preventing the virus strains most responsible for cervical cancer, uptake in this region remains below national targets due to socioeconomic barriers, limited healthcare access, and lack of awareness. Give Teens Vaccines is a two component intervention leveraging existing healthcare systems …

Light Nuclei Femtoscopy And Baryon Interactions In 3 Gev Au+Au Collisions At Rhic, The Star Collaboration

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report the measurements of proton-deuteron (𝑝-𝑑) and deuteron-deuteron (𝑑-𝑑) correlation functions in Au+Au collisions at √𝑠NN = 3 GeV using fixed-target mode with the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). For the first time, the source size (𝑅 𝐺), scattering length (𝑓0), and effective range (𝑑0) are extracted from the measured correlation functions with a simultaneous fit. The spin-averaged 𝑓0 for 𝑝-𝑑 and 𝑑-𝑑 interactions are determined to be -5.28 ± 0.11(stat.) ± 0.82(syst.) fm and -2.62 ± 0.02(stat.) ± 0.24(syst.) fm, respectively. The measured 𝑝-𝑑 interaction is consistent with theoretical calculations and low- energy scattering experiment …

Electric-Charge-Dependent Directed Flow Splitting Of Produced Quarks In Au+Au Collisions, The Star Collaboration

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report directed flow (𝑣1) of multistrange baryons (Ξ and Ω) and improved 𝑣1 data for 𝐾−, ̄ 𝑝, ̄ Λ and 𝜙 in Au+Au collisions at √𝑠NN =27 and 200 GeV from the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). We focus on particles whose constituent quarks are not transported from the incoming nuclei but instead are produced in the collisions. At intermediate impact parameters, we examine quark coalescence behavior for particle combinations with identical quark content, and search for any departure from this behavior (“splitting”) for combinations having non-identical quark content. Under the assumption of quark …

Measurement Of Directed Flow In Au+Au Collisions At √Snn = 19.6 And 27 Gev With The Star Event Plane Detector, Star Collaboration

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

In heavy-ion collision experiments, the global collectivity of final-state particles can be quantified by anisotropic flow coefficients (vn). The first-order flow coefficient, also referred to as the directed flow (v1 ), describes the collective sideward motion of produced particles and nuclear fragments in heavy-ion collisions. It carries information on the very early stage of the collision, especially at large pseudorapidity (η), where it is believed to be generated during the nuclear passage time. Directed flow therefore probes the onset of bulk collective dynamics during thermalization, providing valuable experimental guidance to models of the pre-equilibrium stage. In 2018, the Event Plane …

Modeling And Analysis Of Amorphous Steel Transformer For Potential Loss Reduction In Power Systems., Daniel A. Muchow

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

The energy consumed in power systems can be reduced directly by implementing new technologies and materials. The effort to reduce the carbon emissions expelled from the production of electrical energy has become a major focus. According to the U.S. energy Information Administration approximately 5% of all the electric generated and transmitted in the U.S. electrical grid is lost. The energy profile calculated from the usage of electrical power from all 50 states in 2021 is estimated to be 3.8 billion megawatts per hour, with a state average of just over 11 cents per MWh, producing just over 41.8 billion in …

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Depression And Subjective Cognitive Decline By Gender: A Moderated Mediation Analysis, Monique J. Brown, Darlingtina K. Esiaka, Jaya Viswanathan

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Studies assessing depression as a mediating factor between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and subjective cognitive decline (SCD) are lacking. Therefore, the aims of this study were to: (1) determine the mediating role of depression in the association between ACEs and SCD; and (2) assess the moderating role of gender. Data were obtained from the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study (BRFSS) survey (N = 38,600). Crude and adjusted path analyses were used to determine the mediating role of depression between ACEs and SCD. Adjusted analyses controlled for sociodemographic confounders. ACEs were positively associated with depression (B = 0.129, p …

Using A Self-Report Survey To Determine Students’ Self-Concept, Math Attitudes, And Achievement In Ability-Grouped Math Classrooms, Jessica T. Blake

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Ability grouping is a common practice in the United States that aims to acknowledge differences in student ability by dividing students into more homogeneous groups. Numerous studies have examined factors associated with ability grouping such as self-concept, math achievement, and attitudes toward math, but there is little empirical research exploring these three factors simultaneously. The current study examines the differences in achievement level, achievement gains, math self-concept, and attitudes toward math in middle school students enrolled in math classes based on student ability. Participants included 407 middle school students across two schools that use between-class ability grouping for math. Students …

Stable Oxygen And Hydrogen Isotopic Ratios Of Precipitation And Modelling Of Precipitation Sources In Central Kentucky, Usa, 2017-2022, Ariel Gold-Mccoy

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Our goals were to carry out analyses of a multi-year δ¹⁸O and δ²H dataset of precipitation from central Kentucky and to analyze the source of precipitation for storm events from 2017 to 2022. δ¹⁸O and δ²H were measured for 244 weekly precipitation samples collected by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program at Mackville, Kentucky, USA. Modelling precipitation source was carried out using HYSPLIT model for 414 events. Results of δ¹⁸O and δ²H from central Kentucky show: consistent seasonality, including summer highs and winter lows for δ¹⁸O and δ²H; correlation with air temperature; and …

Measuring Accessibility Of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: A Case Study In Kentucky, Oluwasola Elijah Fagbohun

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This thesis assesses spatial accessibility to electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Kentucky by investigating methodological approaches to measure accessibility: provider-topopulation ratios, regional accessibility metrics, and several methods in the family of gravity models. The Enhanced Two-Step Floating Catchment Area method was employed to measure electric vehicle charging station accessibility across Kentucky using a network-based approach in ArcGIS Pro. The analysis integrated 2023 American Community Survey 5-year Census block group data, Kentucky road network datasets, charging station locations from the Alternative Fuels Data Center, and Alternative Fuel Corridor designations. We examined existing infrastructure and proposed stations outlined in the Kentucky electric …

Advancing Vapor Intrusion Science Using Systematic Frameworks To Foster Informed Decision Making, Hong Cheng Tay

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Vapor intrusion, the migration of subsurface vapors into indoor air spaces, is an important source of indoor air contamination to consider at hazardous waste sites contaminated by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). There is considerable uncertainty and variability in the factors that influence vapor intrusion processes, which poses a significant challenge for decision making, despite advancements in vapor intrusion science. This dissertation consolidates knowledge from existing scientific advances and investigates scientific gaps associated with the vapor intrusion preferential pathway conceptual model (i.e. conduit vapor intrusion), associated with the vapor entry pathway into buildings via sewer systems. The overall goal of this …

An Investigation Of The Legitimacy Of The Underlying Assumptions Of The Scs Curve Number Method By Application To Actual Urban Watersheds, Robert K. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Curve Number (CN) method is widely used to estimate direct runoff, and its TR-55 urban-adapted Curve Numbers are commonly applied in stormwater design. However, the underlying assumptions of the method have been the subject of contemporary review, and concerns remain that these values underestimate runoff in actual urban watersheds. This study evaluates the performance of TR-55 CNs using rainfall–runoff data from twenty real-world urban watersheds in the National Stormwater Quality Database.

Empirical Curve Numbers were derived using two calibration techniques, the asymptotic CN method (CN∞) and a nonlinear least-squares optimization method (CN_LS), and …

Earthquake Wrangler: Leveraging Ios Technology For Earthquake Detection And Early Warning Application To Enhance Public Safety., Luis F. Salome

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Earthquakes are devastating natural phenomena and generate secondary hazards such as tsunamis, landslides and fires. Their catastrophic impacts span both developed nations including the United States, Japan, Turkey, and Italy and developing countries such as El Salvador, Haiti, Nepal and the Philippines, where disparities in early warning infrastructure remain important. Seismic events start with stress waves generated by tectonic plate motion, with body waves (P- waves and S-waves) and surface Rayleigh and love waves that carry energy through the earth. While some regions have adopted advanced early warning systems based on seismic hazard models and strong ground motion analysis, others …

"These Are The Concepts Of The Father": Proclus' Solution To Parmenides' Dilemma, Daniel J. Grifferty

Theses and Dissertations--Modern and Classical Languages, Literature and Cultures

This master’s thesis will attempt to solve a dilemma presented by Parmenides in Plato’s dialogue of the same name. This dilemma arises because the young Socrates suggests that the forms may be thoughts that come to be in the soul. Parmenides responds to this statement by attempting to force Socrates to admit that this can only lead to one of two outcomes: (1) each thing thinks because it is composed of thoughts or (2) each thing does not think, even though it is composed of thoughts. Both of these outcomes are unsatisfactory and do not provide a solid grounding for …

Geochemical And Sedimentological Signals Of Bottom Water Oxygen Dynamics From Lake Tanganyika (Zambia), Njahi Mwangala

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Lake Tanganyika is a large, ancient freshwater body with exceptional biodiversity that is located in the East African Rift System. Lake Tanganyika’s size and longevity make its sedimentary record useful for understanding environmental changes that cross spatial and temporal boundaries. Lake Tanganyika is known to be susceptible to global warming given its tropical location. Over 12 million people living within Lake Tanganyika’s watershed rely on fishing for their income and nutrition. Changes to limnological function driven by climate could therefore have serious implications for human health and biodiversity conservation. This study focuses on using geochemical properties of modern lake bottom …

Late Holocene Paleolimnology Of Lake Tanganyika (East Africa), Leandro Domingos Luz

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Understanding the long-term responses of ecosystems to climate variability is crucial for predicting and mitigating future changes in the Afrotropics, a region where a significant portion of the population is highly vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Lake Tanganyika, the largest rift lake in East Africa, offers a unique sedimentary archive that can be used to investigate the limnological changes, hydroclimatic shifts, and vegetation dynamics across various timescales. A multi-proxy approach was employed to assess the landscape responses to hydroclimatic fluctuations in the Late Holocene, integrating paleoenvironmental records from radiocarbon-dated sediment cores. This approach involved sedimentology, mineralogy, geochemistry, phytolith analysis, and …

Applications Of Remote Sensing Data To Understanding Geohazards In Wyoming And Kentucky, Meredith Swallom

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Shallow geohazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods profoundly impact communities globally. Constraining susceptibility to these hazards is critical for effective hazard mitigation and building more resilient communities. This dissertation includes multiple studies that leverage remotely sensed datasets to address hazard susceptibility, including: (1) characterizing a potential northern extension of the Teton fault system, (2) deriving a vegetation-based metric to improve landslide susceptibility maps in eastern Kentucky, with potential global implications, and (3) combining numerical modeling, landscape models, and field constraints to understand how anthropogenic factors affect flood severity in southern Appalachian catchments.

In the first study, analysis of new …

Multi-Scale Analysis Of Karst Aquifer Vulnerability To Climate Change And Contamination Processes, Shishir Sarker

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Karst aquifers represent some of the world’s most productive yet vulnerable groundwater systems, supplying freshwater to approximately 10% of the global population across 15% of Earth’s ice-free land surface. Their distinctive hydrological characteristics— including rapid recharge, preferential flow paths, and limited natural filtration— create unique vulnerabilities to both climate variability and contamination that pose significant challenges for sustainable water resource management. This dissertation presents a comprehensive multi-scale analysis of karst aquifer vulnerability through three interconnected studies that examine climate change impacts, microbial contamination dynamics, and contaminant transport processes across diverse geographic and hydrogeologic settings.

Chapter two investigates climate change impacts …

Monazite Ages In And Fertility Of Crystalline Basement Rocks Of The Eastern Inner Piedmont Province: Potential Source Of Detrital Ree Critical Mineral Resources In The Coastal Plain And Modern Fluvial Systems, Abagale K. Ramsey

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The southeastern United States has been known for over a century as a potential resource for rare earth elements due to the abundance of monazite in sediments and crystalline basement rocks. However, sedimentary evolution of the monazite from bedrock to placer deposit and the provenance of the monazite remain untested. This study examined samples collected from the basement rocks of the Piedmont terrane in South Carolina and western North Carolina including peraluminous granites, metagranites, mica schists, and biotite gneisses, and heavy-mineral concentrates of first-order streams draining from these rocks, for age comparison and monazite abundance. Monazite grains were analyzed for …

Geochronologic Constraints On The Meso-Neoproterozoic Tectonic Evolution Of Eastern Laurentia: An Investigation Of Sediment Recycling During And After The Grenvillian Orogeny, John M. Clay Iii

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Grenvillian orogeny and Midcontinent Rift shaped the Mesoproterozoic basement of eastern Laurentia. Their convergence beneath Kentucky and Ohio formed a foreland basin, preserved as the Middle Run Formation. Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology constrains deposition to ~1.0 Ga, reflects Grenville unroofing phases, includes Midcontinent Rift input, and minor Ottawan components. This formation constitutes the most proximal preserved segment of the Grenvillian clastic wedge in Laurentia.

Neoproterozoic-Cambrian rifting followed by Cambrian transgression formed the Great Unconformity in eastern Laurentia. Detrital zircon and basement U-Pb ages from Kentucky and the Appalachians constrain sediment provenance and recycling. Kentucky basement shows Eastern Granite-Rhyolite crust …

Analyzing Agency In Online News Reporting Of The Events Of January 6th, 2021: A Corpus-Based Investigation, Matthew W. Abernethy

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Over the last decade or so, politics in the United States has become increasingly polarized. A central focus of this polarization has been the news media, including both traditional print news, online news, and television news. Results of this have been a rapid rise in misinformation, disinformation, the demonization of news (especially political) providers as purveyors of ‘Fake News’, and distrust in mainstream news outlets. The central focus of this thesis is bias in news reporting, leading naturally to the question of how widespread this bias really is. This thesis uses corpus linguistic and discourse analytic methods to pursue this …

Regularized Methods For Tensor Recovery And Processing, Katherine J. Henneberger

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

The rapid growth of high-dimensional data has exposed the limitations of traditional vector and matrix-based methods for data analysis. These methods often struggle with computational inefficiencies, loss of critical cross-dimensional correlations, and challenges inherent in high-dimensional data. Tensors—multidimensional arrays—offer a robust framework for modeling and analyzing complex data. Tensor methods have proven valuable in tasks such as dimensionality reduction, feature extraction, and data compression, underpinning advancements in machine learning, computer vision, signal processing, and remote sensing.

This thesis focuses on two challenges in tensor analysis: tensor recovery and tensor processing. Tensor recovery addresses the reconstruction of incomplete or corrupted tensors. …

Two Network Flow Problems: Volume Inequalities For Flow Polytopes Of Full Directed Acyclic Graphs; Optimal Additions To The Low-Stress Bike Network In Lexington, Kentucky, James F. Mcelroy

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

This dissertation addresses two distinct problems related by their foundation in network flows. The first problem concerns volumes of flow polytopes of directed acyclic graphs with out-degree sequence (3,2,...,2,0). It is proved that there is an interchange operation on the edge set of these graphs that induces a partial order on the graphs isomorphic to a Boolean algebra, and that moving up through this partial order decreases (weakly) the volumes of the corresponding flow polytopes. This result is reinterpreted in the context of linear extensions for posets that are bipartite non-crossing trees.

The second problem develops a discrete optimization model …

Novel Generative And Language Model Architectures With Applications, Edison Mucllari

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

This dissertation investigates novel architectures to address fundamental challenges in machine learning, particularly focusing on transformer models, recurrent neural networks, GAN and continual learning and their applications in natural language processing and computer vision. We propose the Neumann-Cayley Gated Recurrent Unit (NC-GRU), which leverages a Neumann series-based Scaled Cayley transformation to maintain orthogonal weight matrices, effectively mitigating exploding gradients problems while improving long-term memory retention across prediction tasks. We demonstrate the practical applications of NC-GRU by implementing our proposed architecture into an autoencoder to derive neural molecular fingerprints. Building upon these advancements, we turn our attention to the transformer architecture, …

Blow-Ups And Projectivized Toric Vector Bundles, Sara Church

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

This dissertation is set in the intersection of toric geometry, tropical geometry, and the theory of vector bundles. We focus on the geometry of projectivized toric vector bundles and their connections to Mori dream spaces, matroid theory, and tropical geometry. We generalize previous results on the quotient construction of Gonzalez, Hering, Payne, and Suss (GHPS) by introducing a new approach to describing the geometry of these bundles via associated blow-ups. Additionally, we examine tautological bundles arising from representable matroids and establish connections between their geometry and the wonderful compactification. Finally, we consider the case where Klyachko filtrations have maximal steps …

The Computational Algebra Of Conformal Blocks, Casey B. Hill

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Conformal blocks are objects in quantum field theory that arise from conformal trans- formations, which are symmetries that preserve angles but not length. This aspect of conformal field theory has various interactions with algebraic geometry.

In this dissertation, we explore the underlying algebra and geometry of spaces and algebras of conformal blocks over SLn. We then use this information along with techniques from combinatorial commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, and representation theory to find a presentation of the algebra of SL4-conformal blocks. With this presentation, we then use computational methods to learn about some of the geometric properties of this algebra.

Understanding The Impact Of The Medicaid Expansion On Hospital Length Of Stay And Emergency Department Use In Kentucky, Cameron Bushling

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Three related analyses were performed to try to understand the immediate effects of Medicaid expansion on hospital systems in Kentucky. Medicaid expansion led to a large, sudden increase in the number of individuals eligible for various health care needs. This sudden increase in demand for health services lead to initial hypotheses regarding hospitals’ ability to handle this demand. The first analysis examined hospital average length of stay (LOS) using a linear mixed-effects model. Length of stay was modeled longitudinally between 2013 and 2015 to determine if significant changes in the slope of LOS could be detected after expansion (2014). Separate …

Changes In Cancer Diagnosis And Survival In The United States During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Justin T. Burus

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

The COVID-19 Pandemic led to global societal disruptions as political leaders and public health authorities attempted to control the spread of the newly discovered SARS- CoV-2 virus. While these measures were designed to lessen morbidity and mortality from a novel pathogen, their impact was also felt in many other, often unintended ways. The purpose of this dissertation is to use cancer surveillance research methods to examine the association between COVID-19 Pandemic-related disruptions and changes in the normal diagnosis and care of cancer in the United States.

The first two studies of this dissertation analyzed reductions in cancer diagnoses in the …

Internalism, Externalism, And The Phenomenology Of Epistemic Justification, Steven Winterfeldt

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

This dissertation applies a phenomenological method of analysis to the dispute between analytic internalists and externalists regarding epistemic justification. Traditionally, the justification condition on knowledge has been interpreted as an internal condition, but the growing popularity of the externalist antithesis has placed internalism on the defensive. Ultimately, however, the dispute appears to have fallen into an impasse. I identify a set of four arguments or cases that, when taken together, prompt us to adopt a set of contradictory conclusions about the necessary and sufficient conditions for justified belief. Moreover, none of the analytic views of justification surveyed seem to be …

Collision Avoidance Information System Utilizing Machine Learning Image Recognition, Michael W. Long

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

This thesis addresses significant safety challenges presented by powered haulage fatalities in underground mining by developing and evaluating a machine learning-driven Collision Avoidance Information System (CAIS). The research utilized a ZED 2i camera to capture both RGB and depth data for enhanced spatial awareness in visually limited underground environments. A specialized dataset of underground mining equipment was captured from limestone and zinc mines, annotated, and used to train a segmentation network. The CAIS was field-tested in diverse underground settings, achieving an accuracy of 82% in a limestone mine similar to the training data, but a lower accuracy of 45% in …

Temporal Machine Learning For Predicting Accidents And Violations In The Mining Industry, Nathan T. Kelley

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

This thesis examines the predictive capability of a temporal machine learning model for forecasting future accidents and violations at individual mines, based on historical data. Mine accidents were categorized by accident classification and violations were categorized by the Part Section. The primary datasets utilized were the mine safety and health administration’s (MSHA’s) Accident Injuries and Violations datasets. The available datasets were cleaned and organized by mine type and commodity, then divided into separate subsets for training, validating, and testing. Different models, cutoff metrics, learning rates, number of hidden layers, data processing methods, data processing divisions, number of points observed …